Lapses and Downfalls

David was no stranger to hardship. He knew what it was like to suffer. The paranoid King Saul hunted him like a wild animal, even after the prophet Samuel had anointed David as the next king of Israel.

We also know that David penned Psalm 23 under the direction of the Holy Spirit. He wrote not only of the glory and power of God but also of his own shortcomings, weaknesses, and questions he faced in life. The Twenty-Third Psalm comes from the school of hard knocks, written by someone who knew what it was like to need God’s help.

David, being a shepherd, probably looked out at his flock one day and, seeing their tendencies, recognized that people are a lot like sheep.

For instance, sheep are completely defenseless and require more care and attention than any other kind of livestock. They also tend to work in concert and desperately want to conform.

At the same time, David realized that God was his Shepherd. And shepherds look out for the welfare of their sheep. They lead them to green pastures and beside still waters. Yet despite the shepherd’s tender care and good intentions, sheep tend to go astray.

Now, it would seem that anyone under the care of the Good Shepherd never would go astray or need restoration. But that is not the case.

Why do we run from God? Why do we disregard His plans for our lives? We break God’s commandments and ignore His Word. And then amazingly, when we have made an unnecessary mess for ourselves, we get angry with God about it.

Yet David wrote, “He renews my strength. He guides me along right paths, bringing honor to his name” (Psalm 23:3 NLT). David knew a little bit about renewal and restoration. He had his lapses and his downfalls, which are recorded for us in Scripture.

Usually, when we think of David, two other names come to mind: Goliath and Bathsheba.

Goliath represents David’s greatest victory in which he felled the nine-foot-six-inch Philistine with one smooth stone.

On the other hand, Bathsheba represents his greatest defeat in which he fell into the sin of immorality and tried to hide it. As a result, his life became progressively worse.

In Psalm 42, the psalmist cried out, “Why am I discouraged? Why is my heart so sad? I will put my hope in God! I will praise him again—my Savior and my God!” (verse 11 NLT).

Often, the Christians who are the most vulnerable to sin are not the weakest; they’re the strongest. Sometimes weak Christians recognize their vulnerability and, as a result, stay that much closer to the Shepherd.

Meanwhile, the strong ones might say, “I don’t need to be that close to the Shepherd all the time. I’ll just wander off on my own, kick back, and take it easy.”

It’s often when we lower our defenses that we’re hit by an onslaught of fiery arrows from the enemy. So we must always keep our guard up and remain close to the Shepherd.

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